Friday, September 18, 2015

Muffin Saturday Mornings are still going strong in my home... See original post here. Double chocolate banana muffins are hands down our favorite. These beauties are the bomb. No, really. They are calorie bombs... nothing remotely healthy here. It's a glorified cupcake for breakfast. Don't let the banana and lack of frosting fool you. If you're not afraid of a little splurge, pin this recipe. You'll thank me. Hopefully.

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup baking cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/3 cups mashed ripe bananas

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients. In a small bowl, combine bananas, oil and egg. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased muffin cups two thirds full. Bake at 350° F for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done. Makes 18 muffins.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Let me introduce my favorite homemade meal of all time: (Ok, one of my favorites. I have a LOT of favorites.) Sweet & Sour Chicken with Ham Fried Rice... It brings me joy. I personally like this recipe a lot more than it's take out counterpart. I'm not gonna lie, the time it takes to prepare is slightly daunting (90 minutes give or take), but soooo worth it. If you're up for a rewarding evening of cooking and eating, give this baby a try!

Add the cut up chicken to the flour mixture and toss to coat. Heat the oil until a small test piece of chicken immediately bubbles. Set up an assembly line: bag of chicken, bowl of egg, frying oil. Cook the chicken in batches by dipping each piece of chicken in egg and frying until golden and cooked most of the way through. Drain on paper towels and place in a 9 x 13 pan in a single layer but slightly overlapped. Pour the sweet and sour sauce over chicken and bake in a 375 degree oven until bubbly, about 35 - 45 minutes. If you have a ton of meat, you may choose to double the sauce (I like to have extra sauce, so I always double it). It won'treally change anything but the cooking time because it may take longer to get all bubbly.

Sweet and Sour sauce

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vinegar (apple cider is best...white is muchtoo strong)

1/4 cup chicken broth

3 Tbsp. ketchup

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 - 2 Tbsp. cornstarch, mixed with water

Combine everything but cornstarch in a mediumsaucepan and heat over medium-high heat until it just starts to boil. Add cornstarch mixture a little at a timeand cook untilthickenedtogravy consistency.

Ham Fried Rice

4 Tbsp. butter

Ham, about 3/4 cup finely diced (or more if you like)

Cold rice, about 3 - 4 cups

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Salt and pepper

Soy sauce

3 - 4 eggs, beaten with a little water

Melt the butter in a large pot. Sauté the ham over medium heat for a couple of minutes. Add the rice and if it looks dry you can add a little more butter. Sprinkle with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper and stir really well. Pour in soy sauce a little at a time until it starts to look like restaurant fried rice, kind of golden. (Taste as you go... you want to make sure you don't add too much.) In a separate pan cook up the eggs until they are mostly scrambled, but runny. Add them to the rice and stir gently. Let it all sauté for a few more minutes until the egg is cooked.

Thoroughly In Earnest...

My motto in life comes from my favorite book, David Copperfield, written by Charles Dickens. In chapter forty-two he writes:

"My meaning simply is, that whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well; that whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely; that in great aims and in small, I have always been thoroughly in earnest."

This blog is a place for me to share whatever it is I’m currently in earnest about. Whether it be recipes, craft projects, or geeking out, I hope that you will thoroughly enjoy it as much as I do!

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"My meaning simply is, that whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well; that whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely; that in great aims and in small, I have always been thoroughly in earnest."— Charles Dickens